4.8.16

Shekau resurfaces, says ‘still around’

(FILES)
This file screengrab taken on November 9, 2014 from a Boko Haram video
released by the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram and
obtained by AFP shows the leader of the Nigerian Islamist extremist
group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau preaching to locals in an unidentified
town. Boko Haram’s elusive leader Abubakar Shekau said in an audio
message on August 4, 2016 he is around despite his reported ouster as
leader of the Nigeria-based jihadist group by the Islamic State
(IS).”People should know we are still around,” Shekau said in a
10-minute audio message./ AFP PHOTO / BOKO HARAM / HO

Boko Haram’s elusive leader Abubakar Shekau said in an audio message
Thursday he is still around despite his reported ouster as head of the
Nigeria-based jihadist group by the Islamic State (IS).
“People should know we are still around. We will never cause any
discord among the people, we will live by the Koran,” Shekau said in a
10-minute audio message.
“This is our stand and we remain in our capacity as Jama’atu
Ahlissunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad,” he said using the Islamic name for
the hardline jihadist group.

His voice was recognised by an AFP journalist familiar with previous messages he has posted on social media.
It was also confirmed as Shekau’s voice by Berlin-based expert Yan St-Pierre of the Modern Security Consulting Group (Mosecon).
“The person who posted on the internet is a very reliable source,” he said.
Shekau’s audio message was released in response to reports that he
had been purportedly replaced by Sheikh Abu Musab al-Barnawi, a former
IS spokesman.
In the latest edition of IS’s online weekly magazine Al-Naba, which
was published on Tuesday, there was an interview with Barnawi in which
he was introduced as Boko Haram’s new leader
In March 2015, Boko Haram pledged allegiance to IS.
But Shekau dismissed Barnawi as an infidel who condoned living in an un-Islamic society without waging jihad.
The shadowy leader’s absence in recent months has sparked speculation
about his fate and whether or not he had been deposed as leader.
He became Boko Haram leader after Nigerian security forces killed the
group’s founding chief Mohammed Yusuf in 2009, sparking an insurgency
that has left 20,000 people dead and forced 2.6 million people to flee
their homes.
Boko Haram has been pegged back by an aggressive fightback from the
Nigerian military since January 2014, losing territory and its capacity
to mount conventional attacks.